1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to card tournaments, and more particularly, to a system and method of determining the best card player by participating in a multi-game card tournament.
2. Description of Related Art
Since the 19th century, three types of card games have captured the popular imagination: poker, rummy and bridge. Poker is currently the most popular card game in the world. It is played by many persons, and at present large numbers of people watch televised poker tournaments. It has achieved an audience that includes non-players. The most popular forms of poker are Texas Hold-Em, Seven Card Stud, Low-Ball, Omaha and Draw Poker. Books on card games, however, list over 30 variations of poker. Usually, poker is played by five or more players.
Rummy is thought to be the second most popular card game in this country, and the most popular card game for two players. Gin rummy, which evolved from poker and became popular in the 20th century, has as its object the forming of matched sets of cards of the same rank and sequences of cards of the same suit, the deduction of which from the hand will bring the value of the remaining unmatched cards to below a certain number. There seem to be at least 20 variations of rummy.
Bridge developed out of the English game of Whist, first played more than 400 years ago. Bridge evolved in the United States in the late 19th century, and thereafter became Auction Bridge and finally Contract Bridge. Bridge was extremely popular in the 1920's and though its popularity has been eclipsed of late by poker and gin rummy, bridge nevertheless has a consistent following to this day. In bridge, only four persons (i.e., two teams of two) can play a game at one time. Bridge tournaments involve many tables playing the very same cards, so that the skill of the players can be measured apart from the element of luck.
Advocates of each of these types of games argue that their game is the ultimate skill game and that the people who are the best at their game are the best card players in the world. However, there is currently no way to determine what individual or team is the best at all three games, or the best card player overall. Therefore, it would be very desirable to develop a system and method of participating in a multi-game card tournament to determine who is the best card player.